Young, Don RSS ArticlesYoung, Don RSS Articleshttp://donyoung.house.gov/
Fri, 27 Feb 2015 05:00:00 GMThttp://backend.userland.com/rssRSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/Young Remains Committed to Addressing Executive Overreach on Immigration, Votes for Week-Long DHS Extension <p><b>Washington, D.C.</b> – <b>Alaskan Congressman Don Young</b> shared the following statement after the passage of H.R. 33, a seven day stopgap funding measure for the Department of Homeland Security. With the support of Congressman Young, the bill passed 357 to 60.</p>
<p><i>“More than six weeks ago, the House passed legislation to fund our nation’s Department of Homeland Security, while also taking significant steps to hold this Administration accountable for its unilateral actions on immigration. Without recourse, Senate Democrats have been unwilling to negotiate in good faith on what a majority of Americans believe to be unlawful actions on the part of the President. Throughout this process, I have continued to look for every available option to hold the President accountable and ensure these types of encroachments on our Constitution are not tolerated. This evening’s vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security for seven days represents an effort to protect our national security, while forcing Democrats to the negotiating table to address the President’s blatant disregard for Congress and the American people. As the House and Senate reconcile our two bills next week, I remain committed to addressing this massive executive overreach on immigration.”</i></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><i>&nbsp;</i></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><i>###</i></p>http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398165
http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398165Fri, 27 Feb 2015 05:00:00 GMTYoung, DeFazio Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Tribal Transportation Self-Governance<p><b><i>Washington, D.C.</i></b> – <b>Alaskan Congressman Don</b> <b>Young</b> today joined House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-OR) in introducing bipartisan legislation to establish a tribal transportation self-governance program at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). &nbsp;</p>
<p><em>“It’s imperative that Congress continually strive to empower tribes by upholding the principles of tribal self-governance in all aspects of the federal government’s relationship with Native communities,” </em><b>said Congressman Don Young.</b><em>&nbsp;“Our bill embodies this goal by creating a process that allows tribes to take on federal responsibilities for managing their funding from DOT programs.&nbsp; We have already seen the tremendous successes of similar tribal contracting systems for education and healthcare funding.&nbsp; This legislation recognizes that tribes understand best how to address their infrastructure needs and are most effective at doing so when they are not burdened by unnecessary federal bureaucracy and red tape.”</em></p>
<p><em>“The Federal Government shouldn’t stand in the way of tribes that want to and can effectively self-govern,” </em><b>said Congressman Peter DeFazio.</b><em> “This legislation simply requires DOT to allow tribes with demonstrated experience to manage all funds received from DOT under one agreement, leading to increased program efficiency and ultimately improved tribal infrastructure. Congress has established similar, successful self-governance programs at other agencies—there’s no reason why we cannot implement this successful program at DOT as well. I look forward to working with my colleagues to move it through the legislative process."</em></p>
<p>Currently, there are several ways for tribes to obtain DOT tribal transportation funds:&nbsp; (1) the funds are transferred from DOT to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which performs the transportation activities; (2) the funds are transferred from DOT to BIA and tribes enter into contract or compact agreements to perform part or all of the transportation activities; or (3) DOT provides the funds to tribes under DOT agreements and the tribes perform the activities.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Department of Transportation self-governance bill would add a fourth option -- establish a tribal self-governance program at the Department of the Transportation. The bill would specify the contents and requirements of the compacts and annual funding agreements in a manner consistent with the highly-successful self-governance program at the Indian Health Service.<br />
<br />
For full bill text <a href="http://donyoung.house.gov/Components/Redirect/r.aspx?ID=468064-61387775">click here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</p>
###http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398164
http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398164Thu, 26 Feb 2015 05:00:00 GMTCongressman Young Hires New Advisors for Fisheries and Military Affairs<p><b>Washington, D.C. – Alaskan Congressman Don Young</b> today announced the following staff changes to his Washington, D.C. staff, which includes the addition of 20-year House Natural Resources Committee staffer Bonnie Bruce and U.S. Army combat veteran Jakob Johnsen of Alaska. </p>
<p>Bonnie Bruce arrives to Congressman Young’s office after two decades on the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs as a Professional Legislative staff member. Originally hired in 1995 by then Chairman Don Young, Bonnie has worked to develop and implement legislative policy in the areas of fisheries, marine mammals, wildlife, and insular affairs. Bonnie will pick up portfolios relating to foreign affairs, telecom and trade, while continuing her work on wildlife and fisheries related activities, including the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which will be introduced by Congressman Young and passed by the House this year.</p>
<p>Jakob Johnsen, who currently serves as a Special Assistant to the Commissioner and Legislative Liaison for the Alaska Department of Military and Veteran Affairs, is a lifelong Alaskan and former Army Officer. In his current capacity, Johnsen has worked broadly on many issues affecting Alaska’s military and homeland security presence, including force structuring, funding, and veteran affairs.&nbsp; A 2009 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and combat veteran of the Iraq war, Johnsen served his country as an Army Platoon Leader and Strategic Planner. Johnsen, who will begin in Congressman Young’s office in mid-March, will focus on policy relating to military and veteran affairs, in addition to handling homeland security, immigration, and banking issues.</p>
<p><em>“Bonnie and Jakob are both great additions to my legislative team. In addition to the expertise and understanding they bring to my office, they both have an eagerness and enthusiasm to take on new challenges on behalf of the Alaskan people,” </em><b>said Congressman Young.</b><em> “Bonnie’s institutional knowledge on natural resources policy will be invaluable as we continue working to move the Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization forward for Alaska’s fishing industry.”</em> </p>
<p><em>“With more than 22,000 Active Duty military and 73,000 veterans calling Alaska home, it’s critically important to have an experienced and knowledgeable staff member advising me on the many policies affecting our military,” </em><b>said Congressman Young.</b><em> “Jakob brings a rare set of skills to the table and I am confident he will hit the ground running as he begins serving the Alaskan people in the halls of Congress.”</em></p>
<p>The additions to Congressman Young’s office come following the departure of two longtime policy advisors, Erik Elam and Jason Suslavich, who recently joined the office of Senator Dan Sullivan as EPW Subcommittee Staff Director and Legislative Assistant for Armed Services and Veteran Affairs, respectively.</p>
<p><em>“It’s never easy seeing members of my legislative team leave, but I’m happy to share their talent and wealth of Alaskan knowledge with Senator Sullivan,” </em><b>Congressman Young said.</b><em> “These two men advised me on a wide range of issues and will be valuable additions to Senator Sullivan’s team as he begins building out his office and tackling the many issues concerning Alaskans.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">###</p>http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398161
http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398161Wed, 25 Feb 2015 05:00:00 GMTLegislation to Expand and Strengthen College Savings Plans Passes House with Support of Congressman Young<p><b>Washington, D.C.</b> – A month after President Obama reversed his proposal to effectively eliminate 529 college savings plans, <b>Alaskan Congressman Don Young</b> and the House of Representatives passed legislation to expand, modernize, and strengthen the program that roughly 12 million American families currently utilize to prepare and save for their children’s future.</p>
<p>&nbsp;H.R. 529, which passed the House today 401 to 20, would provide a much needed update for 21<sup>st</sup> Century college students by permanently making computer equipment and technology a covered higher education expense. The legislation would also work to improve 529 college savings plans by allowing students to redeposit tuition reimbursements into their accounts without financial penalty, in addition to eliminating unnecessary and burdensome paperwork.</p>
<p><em>“This Administration often talks about the extreme burdens and hardship of paying for post-secondary education, but fails to see the virtue in savings accounts that allow families to plan for their children’s future,” </em><b>said Congressman Young.</b><em> “With the average student loan debt surging to nearly $30,000, it’s no surprise that more than 12 million American families have already made the decision to invest their hard earned paychecks towards 529 savings plans. Today’s action by the House starkly contrasts the President’s proposal to eliminate the 529 savings plans, which was scrapped after receiving insurmountable blowback from Democrats, Republicans, and countless middle class families and parents.”</em></p>
<p><em>“For the sake of promoting his own foolish agenda, the President has misled the American people in claiming 529 plans are strictly for the wealthy,” </em><b>Congressman Young said.</b><em> “The reality, which many Alaskan families have relayed to me and was confirmed by the Joint Committee on Taxation, is that a majority of these accounts – 52% – are owned by families making less than $100,000. We shouldn’t punish hardworking families who make sacrifices for their children; we should give families the opportunity to build a foundation for success and provide their children the means necessary to learn a skill, trade, or a degree through higher education.”</em></p>
<p>The IRS code allows States to create and administer 529 college savings plans, which may be established on behalf of an individual. &nbsp;Contributions, which are not tax deductible, may be made in amounts as little as $10 by any person. Earnings on 529 plans are not taxable, and distributions from 529 plans for qualified higher education expenses are not taxable. However, distributions used for non-qualified expenses from 529 plan investment earnings are taxable and subject to a 10-percent penalty.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">###</p>http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398162
http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398162Wed, 25 Feb 2015 05:00:00 GMTCongressman Young Shares Reaction to President’s Veto of Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act<p><b>Washington, D.C</b> – Alaskan Congressman Don Young today shared the following statement in response to President Obama’s veto of the Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act:</p>
<p>“I wish I could say I was surprised, but the President has had his sights set on 'no' ever since the anti-fossil fuel movement identified the Keystone XL project as its political lightning rod, much like they’ve done with ANWR, the Arctic OCS, and the NPR-A. The Keystone XL, which is no different than previously approved transboundary projects, would have added thousands of new American jobs, strengthened our nation’s energy security and infrastructure, and added billions in new private spending to the United States. Unfortunately, the President has dug in and let the voice of special interests speak louder than the majority of Americans, a bipartisan group in the House and Senate, unions, small businesses, and even his own State Department.”&nbsp;</p>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><img alt="" width="400" height="200" id="_x0000_i1025" src="http://donyoung.house.gov/UploadedPhotos/MediumResolution/8e1dacf4-9d6c-4517-84ff-0db4008c0ec6.png" /></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
###http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398160
http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398160Tue, 24 Feb 2015 05:00:00 GMTYour Alaska Link: The Future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska<h3><a href="http://www.youralaskalink.com/news/The-Future-of-the-Arctic-National-Wildlife-Refuge-in-Alaska-293583491.html">The Future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska</a></h3>
<p>By Marissa Silver</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Anchorage, AK - Looking into the future, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a critical piece of the puzzle when it comes to the future of oil development in The Last Frontier.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>"We think there is 5 billion barrels remaining in the existing field, we think there is double that in ANWR of 10 billion," said Kara Moriarty who is the CEO/President of AOGA.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>"ANWR is probably another Prudhoe Bay or more, I don't think I've seen the geology, but I've been told that if you're a geologist and you look at what they have done up there, it's a lot of oil," said Governor Bill Sheffield who was Governor of Alaska from 1982-1986.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>And for the average Alaskan it could mean an increase in the oil in the pipeline.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>"I think estimates is, that we could get a million barrels a day potentially at ANWR's peak production, so why wouldn't we as alaskans want more oil in the pipe," Moriarty said.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>But ANWR is currently closed to drilling following the proposed designation of the remaining land as wilderness by President Obama and his Administration in January.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><b>"I've been fighting this battle for 34 years, and to have propaganda to come from the environmental community who doesn't know their backside from their frontside and talk about the wolves and the caribou sleeping together is just pure bull**** and what bothers me the most is this is good for the nation," said Representative Don Young who is a US House Representative.</b></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>And if ANWR is forever closed off for drilling the impact would effect the way of life for many Alaska Natives.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>"For them, that is their future and that is their land, they view it as, it's another way to develop their resource and for them it is their economic future and why would we want to close that off, when it's such a small portion of the overall refuge," Moriarty said.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>While keeping ANWR closed off could be detrimental to the future of the economy of our state.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
"When you look at oil and gas for the next 20,30,40,50 years ANWR needs to be a component of that to make sure that we have a viable pipeline and to make sure we have a viable economy," said Moriarty.http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398158
http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398158Sun, 22 Feb 2015 05:00:00 GMTPeninsula Clarion: Interior Secretary Jewell visits eroding Alaska village<h3><a href="http://peninsulaclarion.com/news/2015-02-17/interior-secretary-jewell-visits-eroding-alaska-village">Interior Secretary Jewell visits eroding Alaska village</a></h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>KOTZEBUE (AP) — In temperatures slightly higher than Washington, D.C.’s, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell got a firsthand look Monday at the effect of climate change on an Alaska coastal community.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Jewell visited Kivalina, a village of 370 on a barrier island just off Alaska’s northwest coast, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Once protected from early winter storms by a natural barrier of sea ice, Kivalina has been ravaged in recent decades by erosion because climate warming prevents ice from forming until later in the winter.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“You can see the impact of coastal erosion in the village,” Jewell said. “You can hear the fear in people’s voices about what’s happening with climate change. Things are changing up here, and that’s part of what I’m on this trip to learn about.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>She also planned to attend a retreat sponsored by the Alaska Federation of Natives, the state’s largest Alaska Native organization.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Kivalina residents have moved bodies from the village graveyard to prevent them from washing away. Changing migration patterns have forced subsistence hunters to travel greater distances to harvest caribou and whales, villagers told Jewell.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>With less land on the island to construct homes, one woman said, some families are cramming 10 to 20 people into two- and three-bedroom homes.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“Hopefully this session will bring the kind of visibility that you need to Kivalina for the challenges you have with climate change,” Jewell said, pointing to television cameras carried by reporters. “Because you’re on the front lines, right here.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Alaska elected officials followed Jewell to nearby Kotzebue and had a different agenda. Alaska’s state budget receives upward of 90 percent of its revenue from the petroleum industry, and falling oil prices have the state looking at a multibillion-dollar deficit.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>President Barack Obama’s announcement last month that he would seek wilderness status for the oil-rich coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, and Jewell’s announcement that she would remove five Arctic Ocean areas from future offshore lease sales, prompted protests from Alaska officials.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“I may be an easy target,” Jewell said. “But the reality is oil prices have fallen dramatically, and that’s impacted the state’s budget. We are supporting responsible and safe oil drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve and in the Outer Continental Shelf.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In talks with state lawmakers, she said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon in Anchorage, she mostly listened but pledged to work toward a more productive relationship. Their concern for developing the state’s resources with the goal of solving state problems was not echoed in Kivalina, she said.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“When I was in the village of Kivalina, they didn’t talk with me at all about resource development,” she said. “They talked to me about personal life and safety. They talked about subsistence. They talked about a change in climate, about melting permafrost that’s impacting berry picking and their movement across the landscape.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><b>U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said past administrations had treated Alaska like a “little jewel” without consideration for its residents, but Obama has been the worst.</b></p>
<p><b>&nbsp;</b></p>
<p><b>“What’ll be accomplished? We don’t know,” Young said. “I’m not overly optimistic, because this is not the secretary’s, personally, I don’t think it’s her personal opinion. It’s an environmental group around the president. And the president’s decided to be against fossil fuels.”</b></p>
<p><b>&nbsp;</b></p>
<p><b>The idea that global warming is caused by people is the “biggest charade” ever perpetrated on the people of Alaska, Young said.</b></p>http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398157
http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398157Thu, 19 Feb 2015 05:00:00 GMTFox News: Interior secretary visits eroding Alaska village; climate change leaves community vulnerable<h3><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/17/interior-secretary-visits-eroding-alaska-village-climate-change-leaves/">Interior secretary visits eroding Alaska village; climate change leaves community vulnerable</a></h3>
<p>By Associated Press</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>KOTZEBUE, Alaska –&nbsp; Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is getting a firsthand look at the effects of climate change on Alaska coastal communities.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://bit.ly/1vTc1dX) reports Jewell on Monday visited Kivalina (kiv-ah-LEE'-nah), a community of 370 on a barrier island just off Alaska's northwest coast.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The island for decades was protected from erosion by sea ice that provided a natural sea barrier to fierce Chukchi (chuk-CHEE') Sea storms.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Jewell says erosion's effects on the village are obvious, as is residents' fears of losing their homes.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Jewell says climate change is clearly caused by the burning of fossil fuels.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Alaska's lone representative in the U.S. House of Representatives disagrees.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><b>Republican Don Young says the idea that global warming is caused by people is the "biggest charade" ever perpetrated on Alaskans.</b></p>http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398156
http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398156Wed, 18 Feb 2015 05:00:00 GMTTexas Judge Halts President’s Executive Action on Immigration, Congressman Young Responds<p><strong>Kotzebue, AK </strong>– <b>Alaskan Congressman Don</b> <b>Young</b> today issued the following statement in response to the preliminary injunction issued by United States District Judge Andrew S. Hanen, which prevents President Obama from implementing his unilateral expansion of immigration policies for more than 5 million illegal immigrants.</p>
<p>“From the time President Obama gave his Executive Order on immigration, I have contended that his actions were unlawful and a direct attack on the Constitution. Prior to his Executive Order, the President even agreed. &nbsp;On 22 different occasions, the President stated that further actions on immigration were not within his Constitutional authority.</p>
<p>&nbsp;“Today, I am pleased to see a branch of our judicial system agree that these actions on immigration, these lawless executive decrees, are wrong. This issue is far from over, and Congress must pursue every avenue available to hold the President accountable and ensure the law of the land is enforced as written. Bypassing Congress and changing the law himself is not acceptable and only weakens the foundation this nation is built upon.</p>
<p>“Last Friday, I joined 168 of my colleagues in the House to call upon Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid to encourage his party to allow full debate on H.R. 240, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2015. As we approach the February 28<sup>th</sup> deadline, Congress must come to an agreement that strengthens our borders, prioritizes the legal immigration process, and defunds the Administration’s Deferred Deportation program."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://donyoung.house.gov/Components/Redirect/r.aspx?ID=468048-61387775">Click here</a> for the letter sent to Minority Leader Harry Reid on H.R. 240.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">###</p>
<u5:p></u5:p><u5:p></u5:p>http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398077
http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398077Tue, 17 Feb 2015 05:00:00 GMTFDNM: Jewell meets Alaska legislators on Northwest tour<h3><a href="http://www.newsminer.com/news/local_news/jewell-meets-alaska-legislators-on-northwest-tour/article_3d98f334-b688-11e4-b27a-6b32bd2520d4.html">Jewell meets Alaska legislators on Northwest tour</a></h3>
<p>By Casey Grove</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>KOTZEBUE — Converging on this small northwest Alaska city above the Arctic Circle on Monday were the state’s governor, congressional delegation, Alaska Native and legislative leaders, staffers and no fewer than eight news crews.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Oh, and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell was here, too.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The visitors were in town in part for what had been billed as a showdown between Alaska’s leaders and Jewell, though that was not the original reason for the visit. It turned out to be less of a confrontation than a conversation, but Alaska leaders said they got their point across: Let us develop our land.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Jewell had agreed in November to participate in an Alaska Federation of Natives leadership retreat to discuss such issues as subsistence rights and global warming on Tuesday.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>But recent attention-grabbing moves by the Department of the Interior — in the words of state and federal lawmakers, to “lock up” Alaska’s natural resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, National Petroleum Reserve and elsewhere on federal land or offshore — resulted in several meetings between Jewell and the various visiting politicians. Only a community reception in Kotzebue with dancing and speeches and Jewell’s meeting Monday in the tiny village of Kivalina about 80 miles to the northwest were open to reporters or the public.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Kivalina, with its 370 residents, sits on a narrow spit of land next to the Arctic Ocean and for years has suffered from coastal erosion attributed to rising sea levels and global warming. It was a perfect, if ominous, backdrop for the villagers to share their stories, Jewell said, when a reporter noted it had been warmer in Kivalina on Monday that it had been in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“You can see the impact of coastal erosion in the village. You can hear the fear in people’s voices about what’s happening with climate change,” Jewell said. “Things are changing up here, and that’s part of what I’m on this trip to learn about, as well as visit with the Alaska Federation of Natives, who are hosting our visit here.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Jewell, wearing a blue kuspuk made and given to her by a Kivalina resident, listened to the villagers’ worries in the community’s small school gym, which had been decorated with colorful paper banners separately welcoming each of her staff members by name.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Kivalina residents said problems included having to pile sandbags for protection, the removal of bodies from the local graveyard so they would not be washed away, and changing migration patterns hunters follow farther and farther away to harvest caribou and whales. As Jewell took notes, video of the crashing waves and whalers in skin boats played behind her.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>And the village still needs basic services that others take for granted, some said.</p>
<p>“You gonna take my honey bucket to where you come from?” asked elder Russell Adams Sr., referring to the plastic buckets used as toilets in communities without plumbing.</p>
<p>Many in the gym laughed.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“Take it back with me?” Jewell asked.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“That’s all I’m worried about, and I’m worried about my grandkids, no place to build a house. I got — how many living with me now?” Adams asked, turning to a relative.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>With less land to build on, some families are cramming 10 to 20 people into two- and three-bedroom homes, one woman said. Maybe the village would have to move, Adams said.</p>
<p>“Hopefully this session will bring the kind of visibility that you need to Kivalina for the challenges you have with climate change,” Jewell said, pointing out the television cameras. “Because you’re on the frontlines, right here.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Jewell got a close look herself. Without hesitation, she hopped in the back of a pickup after the meeting with a Kivalina resident and a couple of reporters to see the erosion damage. The short tour wound past sled dogs tied to their houses, past expensive diesel electricity generators and ended at the airstrip, adjacent to the crosses marking Kivalina’s 50-plus graves.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“We’re stepping on them all the time,” an elder had said. “Remember that.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Along with the AFN meeting, a main focus of the visit, Jewell said, was to talk and learn in an attempt to come up with solutions for the village and others affected by climate change, which she said was clearly caused by the burning of fossil fuels.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“This is the beginning of what may be to come for other areas,” Jewell said. “This is a story I’ll be able to take back to D.C. There are pictures I’ll be taking back to help people understand just how significant what we’re seeing on the ground is and how it affects people’s lives.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Alaska politicians react</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Jewell’s goals could not have been more different from those of the state senators and representatives who spoke to her behind closed doors later in Kotzebue.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Before the meeting, in an outdoor news conference on the coast, Jewell acknowledged the fact that recent announcements on ANWR likely had drawn more attention to her visit to Alaska, which was currently feeling “a lot of pain” because of low oil prices and a state government that is heavily dependent on oil tax revenue.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“I may be an easy target,” Jewell said. “But the reality is oil prices have fallen dramatically, and that’s impacted the state’s budget. We are supporting responsible and safe oil drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve and in the Outer Continental Shelf.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“I don’t believe this is a showdown,” she said. “This is an opportunity for me to listen to them, and hopefully they can listen to me. A meeting of the minds to work on a longer-term solution but not at the expense of the incredible resources that Alaska has, the natural resources that are here.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In a news conference later, after their closed-door meeting with Jewell, Alaska legislators said Jewell had expressed a desire to “hit the reset button” on the federal government’s relationship with Alaska. It had been a good conversation and there had been no “fireworks,” said Sen. Mike Dunleavy, R-Wasilla.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Alaska has always been a resource-development state, and it would be great to generate similar revenue through something like eco-tourism, Dunleavy said. But even if that were to happen someday, it would not pay for things such as schools and roads — maybe plumbing in villages — that Alaska needs now, he said. The federal government needed to listen better to those needs, he said.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“We want to have a voice. We don’t want to be subjects of the United States. We want to be citizens of the United States,” he said.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Rep. Bob Herron, D-Bethel, said legislators made it clear “that we’re frustrated.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“But maybe there should’ve been some fireworks in this conversation today,” he said. “She left the door open. She wants to open up the communication.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“What if talking does not work?” a reporter asked. “What then?”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Legislative leaders will be discussing options with Alaska’s senators and congressman, including Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who oversees the Senate Appropriations Committee panel that sets the Interior Department’s budget.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><b>That was an option Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young mentioned in an interview later over a cup of coffee.</b></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><b>The Obama administration’s plans for ANWR, announced just a couple weeks before the Kotzebue trip, had created a distraction from the issues that were supposed to be central to the visit, said Young, who has fought for decades to open the coastal plain to drilling.</b></p>
<p><b>Young said past administrations had treated Alaska like a “little jewel,” forgetting that people live here, and Obama had been the worst, so far, on that.</b></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><b>The conversation about ANWR had not changed much, Young said, adding that if it were not for the refuge-related announcements, “this would be a nothing meeting.”</b></p>
<p><b>&nbsp;</b></p>
<p><b>“What’ll be accomplished? We don’t know,” Young said. “I’m not overly optimistic, because this is not the secretary’s, personally, I don’t think it’s her personal opinion. It’s an environmental group around the president. And the president’s decided to be against fossil fuels.”</b></p>
<p><b>&nbsp;</b></p>
<p><b>The idea that global warming is caused by people is the “biggest charade” ever perpetrated on the people of Alaska, Young said.</b></p>
<p><b>&nbsp;</b></p>
<p><b>The key to blocking a wilderness designation in ANWR is controlling the department’s budget, Young said.</b></p>
<p><b>&nbsp;</b></p>
<p><b>“They’ll not have the money to implement ANWR wilderness,” he said. “They want to protect the polar bears more than the people.”</b></p>http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398153
http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398153Tue, 17 Feb 2015 05:00:00 GMT